Oregon’s Coast |
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| Oregon’s coast is known for its beautiful scenery, but cold and stormy oceans. It’s not an ideal place to go swimming or surfing unless you’re using a wet suit, but if you’re into hiking and sailing in the summer months then you won’t be disappointed. One of the major towns along the coast is the city of Seaside, famous for being the location where Lewis & Clark ended their expedition becoming the first America’s to cross the country and reach the Pacific Ocean. Above is a memorial dedicated to the Lewis & Clark Expedition. |
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| The first thing I seemed to notice about Seaside was how dog friendly the place was. Lots of people had dogs here, and almost every restaurant seemed to have a least a dog or two sitting with a family at their outdoor seating areas. On the right is a guy sponsoring legalization of marijuana for the state of Oregon and was looking for people to sign his petition. |
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| In some ways I didn’t truly feel like I was at the beach because the weather was so cold and cloudy, but the boardwalks and shops were the same as any other beach in America. Above is a small indoor carousel that was surrounded by shops. There were also a ton of candy stores here, such as the one on the upper right that was selling truffles. |
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| The beach of Seaside has a large sandy area with people riding bikes, flying kites and lounging around. Since the coast is usually too cold to swim I preferred the nearby Ecola beach because it’s much more scenic. I took these photos above about six years earlier than my Seaside trip when I spent most of my time in Oregon hiking. The photos above were only hours apart, but you can see how quickly a cloudy day can turn into a big storm. |
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| Just south of Seaside is another town called Cannon Beach along Oregon’s coast. Seaside felt more of a tourist destination with their large boardwalk and all the forms of entertainment designed for visitors. While Cannon Beach had no shortage of candy shops junk food, it felt more local to me with their used book stores, quieter beaches, and better scenery. |
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| Cannon Beach’s most famous icon is the large rock on the upper left. This was my second trip to Cannon Beach in my life, and the first trip had similar weather. On the right are some larger rock formations coming out of the ocean farther north. |
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| Despite all the people along coast and beaches, I didn’t see a single sole that dared to enter the chilly water. The month was May which is a little too early for most beaches in America, but even when I had visited in June a few years back the temperatures seemed to be the same. My understanding is you need a wet suit to enter the water, or you have to be a dog. |
  Farther south along coast, I made a random stop and did a short hike through some thick vegetation until I found these dramatic views of the coast. I haven’t yet visited Ireland, but for some reason my first thoughts of seeing the coast here was that it resembled what I believed Ireland to look like. Green mountains and rocky cliffs descending into stormy oceans with a dark over cast sky. I normally prefer sunlight during my travels, but somehow I think sunlight in this place wouldn’t be natural. The trail I came appeared to dead end, but I probably could have free climbed down the rest of the mountain all the way to the waterline if I had wanted. In the distance I could also make out some other trails so it seems there is a lot of hiking in this area. Above is a close up view of the cave that I saw on the right. In the distance I could see more sheer cliffs and rocky islands. |
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| On the left is an example of some of the rocky islands I could see in the Ocean. Many of the islands and cliffs in the area were stained white with bird droppings. Oregon’s coast seemed much more interesting than the coastal areas of the mid-Atlanic where I’m from. On the left I could see some tiny colony of birds, or maybe just birds taking a rest on the lower most island. The dark sky and poor visibility made it for me to tell what kind of species they might be. There were some seagulls that were circling around as well, and some of them didn’t seem to be too shy and didn’t mind getting close to me. |